African drums, gumboot dancers, choirs and a local pop band performed during the pageant, which was broadcast to an estimated one billion viewers around the world.

"The build up to this event has been phenomenal, the girls have had a time of their lives in South Africa," said Chinese television presenter Angela Chow, who hosted the show.

Among the disappointed contestants was Miss England, a soldier dubbed "Combat Barbie" by the British media.

Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge, a 22-year-old who has served in Iraq, was granted leave from the military for the one-month tour of South Africa, where before the live broadcast the contestants competed in sports, a talent showcase, and of course the swimsuit competition.

Also losing out was Miss Indonesia, Kerenina Sunny Halim, who was the subject of a last-minute legal battle with a South African weekly that reported on her public comments about her ties to an American religious cult.

According to a report by the weekly Mail and Guardian, Halim belongs to The Family International, which has been mired in child and sexual abuse allegations by former members.

The 23-year-old Halim told the Jakarta Globe she's a member of the church, for which she did humanitarian work after the Asian tsunami in 2004, the Mail and Guardian said.

Organisers lost a court battle to quash the story early on Saturday.

"This was a blatant attempt by Miss World Ltd to intimidate us by threatening damages running into hundreds of millions of pounds sterling," said Mail and Guardian editor Nic Dawes.

"I have offered the pageant organisers right of reply in our newspaper and on our website, which they have yet to take up," said Dawes.

But organisers didn't let the incident affect the glittering ceremony, where reigning Miss World Ksenia Sukhinova, 22, from Russia handed over the crown.

Organisers say the title pays recognition to beauty queens who have made a difference in people's lives through charitable works in their home countries.

"Charity work is integral to the Miss World ethos and part of the brief to contenders in each country is that they volunteer their time or fundraise for charity," said pageant owner Julia Morley.

In 1951, Sweden's Kiki Hakansson became the first Miss World; then-unknown Halle Berry represented America in 1986 and became a runner-up before going on to become an Oscar-winning actress.

Venezuela and India have produced the most Miss Worlds, with five title holders each.

The city of Johannesburg has been lambasted in local media for spending 90 million rand ($A13.09 million) to host the event, as its council is battling to meet basic service demands by the poor.